JP3185404B2 - Electrophotographic recording device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electrophotographic recording apparatus applied to a facsimile machine, a printer, a copying machine, etc., and more particularly, to a waste toner collecting tank unit and a toner replenishing tank unit integrally connected. The present invention relates to an electrophotographic recording apparatus using the exchange unit body as described above.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the life of a photoconductor and a developing unit in an electrophotographic recording apparatus of this type has reached hundreds of thousands in terms of Japanese Industrial Standard A4 paper. However, maintenance is indispensable, such as replacement of the photosensitive member or the developing unit whose life has expired, replacement of the toner replenishment tank portion where the toner has run out, and replacement of the waste toner collection tank portion which is full of waste toner.

In the conventional apparatus, the toner replenishing tank and the waste toner collecting tank are constituted by separate units. Therefore, the user has to replace it separately, and the maintenance is troublesome. Further, a sensor for detecting that the tank is full is required on the side of the waste toner collecting tank.

On the other hand, there is also a system in which when the toner runs out, the photosensitive member, the developing unit, the toner replenishing tank, and the waste toner collecting tank are replaced collectively. However, in this case, the photosensitive member and the developing unit whose life has not expired are also discarded, so that the running cost per recording sheet increases.

[0005] If the used unit is discarded, toxic substances such as photoreceptors are also discarded, and a major problem relating to the regulation of industrial waste remains. Therefore, even if the maker picks up the used unit and replenishes the toner, the unit must be transported to an extra part, which causes a problem that the transportation cost is increased.

Furthermore, in order to meet the recent needs for downsizing of the apparatus, the toner supply tank section and the waste toner recovery tank section cannot be made too large.

In order to solve such a problem, a waste toner collecting tank unit and a toner replenishing tank unit are integrally connected to each other to form a cleaner / toner magazine (hereinafter abbreviated as CTM) as an exchange unit body. With the configuration described above, the user can easily replace the battery at the time of replacement, and the detection sensor can be eliminated.

[0008]

As described above, the maintenance can be easily performed by the user by integrally connecting the toner supply tank unit and the waste toner recovery tank unit to form a replacement unit. Was.

However, the problem here is that the waste toner leaks from the waste toner recovery tank when the CTM is replaced. In the conventional electrophotographic recording apparatus, since the service person or the like replaces the waste toner collecting tank unit as a separate unit for service exchange, there is no particular problem. But,
Since the CTM is exchanged by the user, there is a possibility that clothes and the like may be stained by leakage of waste toner.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory view for explaining the cause of waste toner leakage in the CTM. Reference numeral 50 denotes a photosensitive member, and 51 denotes a photosensitive member.
A photoreceptor roller for rotating 50, a holder for holding a cleaning blade 53, and a toner scraping blade for rotating and scraping waste toner into a waste toner collecting tank portion are shown.

The cleaning blade 53 is disposed so as to face in a direction opposite to the traveling direction of the photoconductor 50 at the time of image formation, and the tip thereof is in contact with the photoconductor 50.

Furthermore, the cleaning blade 53 is usually 2 mm
It has a thickness of about the same, and a taper cut may be formed at the tip of the tip in order to smoothly collect waste toner.
However, if this taper is completely cut, the edge portion becomes weak, and there is a possibility that obstacles such as entanglement may occur. Therefore, it is usual that the tip has a thickness of about 0.6 mm and is tapered at an angle of about 55 °.

However, as shown by A in the figure, if the tip of the cleaning blade 13 has a thickness, it cannot be collected completely,
There is toner remaining at the tip. CTM in that state
When the toner is extracted from the apparatus main body, the toner naturally spills out, which leads to soiling of user's clothes and the like.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an electrophotographic recording apparatus capable of preventing leakage of waste toner and preventing contamination by toner.

[0015]

According to the present invention, there is provided a waste toner collecting tank having a cleaning blade for removing residual toner on the surface of a photoreceptor and a collecting port for taking in the removed residual toner. In the electrophotographic recording apparatus, which is integrally connected to a toner supply section for supplying toner, and is provided with an exchange unit body detachable from the apparatus main body, a shutter for opening and closing the recovery port is provided.
Comprising a chromatography de, when extracting the replacement unit body, and the tip of the cleaning blade and the tip of the blade
The recovery port is brought into contact with busy Guyo and said blade
It is assumed that the exchange unit body is rotatably provided .

According to the present invention, in the electrophotographic recording apparatus, a magnet for adsorbing magnetic toner is provided in the waste toner collecting tank.

Further, according to the present invention, in the electrophotographic recording apparatus, a flexible sheet member that covers at least a contact portion between the blade and the cleaning blade when the replacement unit is extracted is provided. .

[0018]

According to the present invention, when the replacement unit is pulled out from the apparatus main body, the blade is removed.
The collection port of the waste toner collection tank is closed by contacting the top of the cleaning blade with the top of the cleaning blade.

Further, by providing a magnet for attracting the magnetic toner, the magnetic force of the magnet holds the magnetic toner in the waste toner collecting tank.

Further, when the replacement unit is detached from the apparatus main body, the contact portion between the blade and the cleaning blade is covered with the flexible sheet.

[0021]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing the configuration of an electrophotographic recording apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention, wherein 1 is a photosensitive member, 2 is a charger, 3 is an exposure unit, 4 is a developing device, and 5 is a transfer device. Reference numeral 6 denotes a fixing device, 7 denotes a static eliminator, 8 denotes a CTM, 9 denotes a waste toner recovery tank portion, 10 denotes a toner replenishment tank portion, 11 denotes a holder for holding a cleaning blade 12, and 13 denotes a rotating member 14 to which a blade 15 is attached. The attached shutter 16 discharges the toner in the toner supply tank unit 10 by rotation, and
Shows the spiral to send out.

The CTM 8 is a replaceable unit body in which the waste toner collecting tank unit 9 and the toner replenishing tank unit 10 are integrally connected, and is a moving direction of the photoconductor 1 during an image forming operation (hereinafter, referred to as a forward direction). ) Is arranged on the upstream side of the static eliminator 7.

In the waste toner collecting tank 9, a holder 11 holding a cleaning blade 12 at one end is fixed. The tip of the cleaning blade 12 is provided with a thickness of about 0.6 mm and a taper with an angle of about 55 °.
Further, the tip is installed in a direction opposite to the movement of the photoconductor 1 in the forward direction, and abuts on the photoconductor 1.

Further, a rotating member 14 of a shutter 13 is provided in the waste toner collecting tank 9 so as to be rotatable in the direction of the arrow in the figure. Blade 15 attached to this rotating member 14
Is moved by the rotation of the shutter 13,
Abut on the tip. The blade 15 is made of polyurethane rubber, and has a 45 ° taper 15a at its tip.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the internal structure of the waste toner collecting tank unit 9 in the electrophotographic recording apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 17 denotes a rotatably supporting shutter 13. A rotation fulcrum, 18 is a spring provided between the lever 19 and the fixed shaft 20, 21 is a toner scraping blade, 22 is a rotating shaft of the toner scraping blade 21, and 23 is a gear for transmitting a rotating force to the rotating shaft 22. Is shown.

The rotating member 14 of the shutter 13 has an L-shaped longitudinal member as viewed from the front, and is provided at both ends of one bent portion thereof with a U-shaped side view.
The arm portions 14b, 14b are formed so as to form a character shape. A hole through which the pivot points 17, 17 pass through the arms 14b, 14b.
(Not shown). Further, a blade 15 is attached to the other bent portion 14a of the rotating member 14 so as to protrude from the tip of the bent portion 14a.

The arms 14b, 14b of the rotating member 14 are rotatably mounted in the waste toner collecting tank 9 by rotating fulcrums 17, 17, respectively.

The mounting positions of the pivot points 17, 17 are as follows.
The shutter 13 is rotated so that the tip of the blade 15 comes into contact with the tip of the cleaning blade 12.

Further, a lever 19 is attached to one rotation fulcrum 17 outside the waste toner collecting tank portion 9. The lever 19 is linked with the rotation of the shutter 13.
A fixed shaft 20 is located adjacent to the holder 11 side of the lever 19.
Is provided.

Further, a tension spring 18 is mounted between the lever 19 and the fixed shaft 20. Therefore, C
When the TM 8 is not mounted in the apparatus, the state in which the tip of the blade 15 contacts the tip of the cleaning blade 12 due to the pulling force of the spring 18, that is, the state in which the collection port 9 a is closed.

When the CTM 8 is mounted in the apparatus main body, it comes into contact with the lever 19, rotates the lever 19, and separates the blade 15 from the cleaning blade 12.
(Not shown). Therefore, when the CTM 8 is mounted in the apparatus, the blade 15 and the cleaning blade 12 are separated from each other.

In the waste toner collecting tank 9, a toner scraping blade 21 for collecting the waste toner scraped off by the cleaning blade 12 is supported by a rotating shaft 22. To one end of the rotating shaft 22, a gear 23 for transmitting a rotating force from a motor (not shown) or the like is attached. Due to the rotation of the gear 23, the toner scraping blade 21 rotates,
The waste toner near the tip of the cleaning blade 12 is collected.

Next, the image forming operation will be described with reference to FIG. First, after the photoconductor 1 is charged by the charger 2,
Optical writing is performed in the exposure unit 3 to form an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor 1. After developing the electrostatic latent image by the developing device 4 to form a toner image, the transfer device 5 transfers the toner image to recording paper supplied from a paper feeding unit (not shown). The recording paper to which the toner image has been transferred is heated and fixed by the fixing device 6 and discharged. On the other hand, the toner remaining on the photoreceptor 1 is scraped off by the cleaning blade 12 and collected in the waste toner collecting tank 9 as toner to be discarded. Then, the residual charge is removed from the cleaned photoreceptor 1 by the static eliminator 7 to prepare for the next image forming operation.

When the image forming operation is repeated and there is no new toner in the toner supply tank unit 10, or when the waste toner collection tank unit 9 is full of waste toner, CT
M8 needs to be replaced.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the positional relationship between the shutter 13 and the cleaning blade 12 when the CTM 8 shown in FIG. 1 is replaced.

When the CTM 8 is removed from the apparatus main body, the lever 19 is released from the separating means (not shown) in the apparatus main body, and the shutter 13 is rotated by the tension of the spring 18. Then, the tip of the blade 15 contacts the tip of the cleaning blade 12 while scraping up the waste toner remaining near the tip of the cleaning blade 12. The scraped-up waste toner passes through the taper 15a and is collected in the waste toner collection tank unit 9. Then, in a state where the blade 15 and the cleaning blade 12 are in contact with each other, the CTM 8 is extracted from the apparatus main body, and is replaced.

FIG. 4 is a schematic structural view showing the structure of an electrophotographic recording apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention, and reference numeral 24 denotes a magnet. The same members as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals.

In the second embodiment, a magnet 24 is provided between the blade 15 and the bent portion 14a of the rotating member 14 in the first embodiment. The tip of the magnet 24 is
Is longer than the tip of the blade 15 and shorter than the tapered portion 15a of the blade 15.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the positional relationship between the shutter 13 and the cleaning blade 12 when the CTM 8 shown in FIG. 4 is replaced. When the CTM 8 is pulled out of the apparatus main body, the shutter 13 rotates as in the first embodiment, and the tip of the blade 15 contacts the tip of the cleaning blade 12. In this state, the exchange of the CTM 8 is performed. Also CTM
Inside 8, waste toner having magnetism is held by the magnetic force of the magnet 24.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram showing a schematic configuration of an electrophotographic recording apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 25 denotes a flexible sheet. The same members as those in the second embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals.

The third embodiment is similar to the magnet 24 of the second embodiment.
The rear end has a protrusion 24a, and a flexible sheet 25 longer than the blade 15 is attached to the protrusion 24a. For this flexible sheet 25, a polyester resin having a thickness of about 0.1 mm is used.

FIG. 7 shows a state in which the CTM 8 is pulled out from the apparatus main body in the electrophotographic recording apparatus according to the third embodiment, and FIG. 8 is an explanatory view showing a state in which the CTM 8 is completely pulled out from the apparatus main body. is there.

When the CTM 8 is slightly removed from the main body of the apparatus,
As shown in FIG. 7, as in the first and second embodiments, the shutter
13 rotates and the tip of the blade 15 and the cleaning blade
While the front end of the flexible sheet 25 is in contact with the leading end of the photosensitive member 12, the flexible sheet 25 is in contact with the photosensitive member 1 on the photosensitive member roller 26 in a bent state.

When the CTM 8 is completely removed from the apparatus main body, the flexible sheet 25 is separated from the photosensitive roller 26 as shown in FIG. The contact portion with the cleaning blade 12 and the surface of the cleaning blade 12 facing the photoconductor 1 are covered.

Next, the function and effect will be described. With the configuration of the first embodiment, when the CTM 8 is extracted from the apparatus main body, the tip of the blade 15 scrapes up the waste toner at the tip of the cleaning blade 12 while cleaning the cleaning blade.
The contact with the tip of 12 prevents toner from remaining near the tip, and when replacing the CTM 8, the user stains clothes or the like with waste toner or stains members around the replacement unit body. Is prevented.
Further, since the blade 15 is made of polyurethane rubber and has a tapered end 15a, the waste toner can be scraped up smoothly without damaging the photoreceptor 1.

Also, with the structure of the second embodiment, the first
In addition to the functions and effects of the embodiment, the magnet 24 retains the magnetic waste toner in the waste toner recovery tank 9 by its magnetic force, so that leakage of waste toner can be more reliably prevented.

Further, according to the configuration of the third embodiment, in addition to the functions and effects of the first and second embodiments, when the CTM 8 is replaced, the flexible sheet 25 includes the blade 15 and the cleaning blade 12.
To prevent toner leakage when a gap occurs in the contact portion, and scattering of toner attached to the opposed surface of the cleaning blade 12 by covering the contact portion of the cleaning blade 12 with the photosensitive member 1 facing surface. can do.

[0048]

According to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained by employing the above-described structure.

First, when the replacement unit is removed, the blade closes the recovery port of the waste toner recovery tank, thereby preventing leakage of the waste toner. When the replacement unit is replaced, the waste toner and the replacement unit are removed. Can prevent the user's clothes from being stained by the surrounding members.

Further, by providing the blade with a magnet, the magnetic force holds the magnetic toner in the waste toner recovery tank, so that leakage of waste toner can be prevented.

By providing a flexible member for covering a contact portion between the blade and the cleaning blade, it is possible to prevent toner from leaking from a gap between the blade and the cleaning blade.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a main part of an electrophotographic recording apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a waste toner collecting tank unit in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an operation in a waste toner collecting tank unit shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram showing a main part of an electrophotographic recording apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an operation in a waste toner collecting tank unit in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram showing a main part of an electrophotographic recording apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an operation in a waste toner collecting tank unit in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an operation in a waste toner collecting tank unit in FIG. 6;

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an operation in a waste toner collecting tank unit in a conventional electrophotographic recording apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Photoreceptor, 8 ... Replacement unit body (CTM), 9 ... Waste toner collection tank part, 9a ... Collection port, 10 ... Toner supply tank part, 12 ... Cleaning blade, 13 ... Shutter, 15 ... Blade, 24 ... Magnet , 25 ... Flexible sheet.

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] A toner replenishing section for replenishing toner is integrally connected to a waste toner collecting tank section having a cleaning blade for removing residual toner on the photoreceptor surface and a recovery port for taking in the removed residual toner; And an electrophotographic recording apparatus equipped with an exchange unit body that is detachable from the apparatus main body, comprising a blade for opening and closing the recovery port, and a tip of the cleaning blade when the exchange unit body is extracted.
The collection port is closed by bringing the end into contact with the tip of the blade.
The blade can be turned on the replacement unit so that
Electrophotographic recording apparatus characterized by comprising the capability. 2. An electrophotographic recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said blade is provided with a magnet for attracting magnetic toner. 3. When extracting the replacement unit body,
The electrophotographic recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a flexible sheet member that covers at least a contact portion between the blade and the cleaning blade.